Author: Lauren Oliver

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (22nd July 2010 – Paperback)

Pages: 341

ISBN: 978-0-340-98090-3

How would you feel if you knew you were right now living the very last day of your life? And you were living it again and again and again in a kind of time loop.

Could you fix it so that it was perfect? Would you remember to tell everyone important to you that you loved them? Would you have any regrets? What could you change?

On her way home from a party one night high school student Sam Kingston is killed in a horific car crash… But then she wakes up and the same day starts again and for the next week she continues to relive the same day. She’s the popular, pretty and mean girl in school and she’s the only one that gets the chance to create the perfect day.

As she experiences the day over and over she’s forced to reflect on her life and starts to appreciate all the little things shes been taking for granted and see others for who they really are.

I loved the idea of the time loop where you repeat a day until it is as it’s meant to be, getting the opportunity to put right mistakes and change decisions. The book really highlighted all of the small decisions we make each day and showed how making tweaks here and there can make all the difference not only to our lives but to the lives of others.

This was the first book I’ve ever read which I’ve ever disliked the main character from the very first page, I disliked that she was so mean and the way she treated other people who she didn’t consider her friends. However I can’t help but feel that this was deliberate as after reading on I found myself very quickly warming to her and by the end I think Sam has become my favourite main character in YA fiction.

At the same time I really felt for Juliet Sykes after the way Sam and her friends treated her and I still feel slightly emotional writing it about it now (which is something considering I finished reading Before I Fall on Sunday). The way they fell out with each other really does break my heart.

I read the book by the days but as the writing was so good and I just wanted to know how Sam would wake up the next day I just couldn’t stop myself reading the first paragraph (or 2) of the next day, and this was almost without fail after the end of each and every day.

For me this is the best book I’ve read this year so far and if Lauren’s writing is anything to go by I can’t wait for more.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy to review.